


Soul Stains

by BadGuysPlease



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Soul Bond, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-08-05 00:46:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16357382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadGuysPlease/pseuds/BadGuysPlease
Summary: Rookie Deputy Bernice Abigal Knight had been born with three sets of soul marks on her skin. Only one scared her, the others just seemed odd and overly religious. But Bernice was not one to judge. When she goes to make a high profile arrest however and the man she is arresting turns out to be her soul mate...well let's just hope he is not starting a trend for all her soul mates.





	1. Chapter 1

Every person is born with the first words their soulmate (or in some cases soulmates) would say to them. The words are a faint silver and pink color when you are born. The words look like a scar and can be overlooked easily. But when your soulmate speaks their first words to you, the marks on your skin turn a deep black color. Very few people are born without soulmate marks. You are born with the mark regardless if your soulmate is born yet or not. A lot of soulmates tend to have large age differences. But everyone respected the marks and nothing was said about multiple partners, same-sex partners, or partners with large age differences. If you both had marks that had responded to each other then you were meant to be together. Even all the different religious groups agreed on this.

Rookie Deputy Bernice Abigail Knight was born with three different sets of words on her body. Now Bernice was not from an overly religious family, her mother practiced general Christianity and she had a slightly religious education. As an adult, Bernice had gone to a few different churches, before coming to the conclusion that organized religion was just not for her. She believed in God and Jesus and tried to live a holy life and that was enough for her. Her soulmates words marked on her skin made her feel like her soulmates were deeply religious. At least two of them were. On her left hip sat the words “God will not let you take me.” Bernice was not sure what to make of that, where could she possibly want to take her soulmate and why would they think God would not want them to go with her? Then placed on her right thigh are the words “Sin is pervasive.” She wondered less about that, she just figured her soulmate caught her doing something that was sinful and they are very religious. The last set of words on Bernice’s body gave her chills, etched across her collar bones are the words, “My hunters are coming for you.” Bernice was very frightened those words. It seemed like her third soulmate might just be a psychopath. But two out three is not that bad in her opinion.

Now Bernice was from Alabama, she had moved to Hope County, Montana to get away from her horrible father; no longer able to stand his judgment or hateful words. She moved as soon as she had finished the academy, taking the first deputy job she could get. When she started work in Hope County she didn’t know much about the cult, Eden’s Gate that had bought up a good portion of the land around the area. But the longer she had worked with the sheriff’s department the more she had learned. Plus after two other deputies left the department for the project she also learned not to trust hardly anyone unless they were very vocal about their dislike for the cult.

The sheriff’s department and cult mainly stayed out of the way of each other. Occasionally the sheriff would go talk to the Seed’s about some infraction or other, or some high ranking cult member would come into the department with flyers about the project wanting to save them all. But law and religion don’t always mix well and the sheriff’s department tried to be respectful of that. So when a US Marshal had come in for an arrest warrant for the head of the cult Bernice knew nothing good would come from that. What she didn’t know was that she would be meeting her first soulmate and that he was apparently a crazy cult leader…Well, one out of three was better than nothing right?


	2. Of All Her Luck

Deputy Bernice was watching the proceedings in the church with frustration and a bit of fear. She knew there was no way this was going to end well for her or her colleagues; pretty much everyone with this cult was a few cards short of a full deck. When the marshal ordered her to cuff the cult leader, she shot him a look full of irritation; of course, he would make the rookie do it.

As she turned her attention to the man she was supposed to cuff, she suddenly heard the words on her left hip being spoken. “God will not let you take me,” Bernice stared her soulmate with horror on her face. She felt a sharp burning pain on her hip where she knew the words sat and she shook her head. No…No…NO! This couldn’t be right. Bernice took a deep breath as she realized that he was very much her soulmate. As the marshal got more insistent she just blocked it out as she frantically searched for her words on his skin. But she could not see them anywhere visible to her at the moment. She looked back into his eyes and felt panic clawing at her throat, but she quickly swallowed it down and stepped forward to do her job. She cuffed him as quickly as possible, never more thankful for her gloves than at that moment.

As soon as she finished cuffing him, her eyes darted to the three people standing behind him. The two men, who Bernice assumed were his brothers, seemed to be eyeing her in a way that made her very uneasy. She shifted on her feet as she moved to stand slightly behind her soulmate to she could guide him out of the church. As they were walking she took the time to really look at his back, but she could find no scar like words on his back, besides the sins which were carved into him every where. Seriously how crazy was he? Bernice let out a sigh as she just decided to not say anything at all to him. If she didn’t speak to him then he would never know that she was his soulmate.

As the Peggies started to get more and more aggressive, Bernice just continued on to the helicopter. Hudson said something to her, but Bernice just shook her head at Hudson. Bernice didn’t want to say anything in front of Seed on the off chance that it would be the words he had on him to identify her as his soulmate. But as Bernice got into the helicopter and chaos started to erupt all around, she quickly forgot about her plan to stay completely silent. Telling a Peggie who was clinging to her and trying to pull her out of the chopper too, “Let Go!” Before she pushed him off her and towards the ground quickly shrinking beneath them. Of course just to make matters worse her soulmate was singing Amazing Grace in a very creepy way that made Bernice want to punch him.

Suddenly she felt the chopper lurch and start to spin out of control. Bernice heard Pratt yell to brace for impact and then everything went dark. When she came to she noticed they were hanging upside down, her colleagues were passed out (it looked like they were still breathing), and Seed was nowhere to be seen. As she tried to reach for the headset to tell Nancy to send for the National Guard Bernice heard her soulmate singing somewhere. Great, Bernice though, he couldn’t just go away and leave her alone. No, he had to stick around and rub in that he was right about God not letting him leave and sing in a very horror movieish way. She scoffed at her thoughts, more like his crazy devout cult members wouldn’t let her take him. As Bernice grabs the headset she was suddenly scared stupid when a hand grabs her wrist in an almost bruising grip. “Jesus!” Bernice shouted in surprise, completely forgetting her vow of silence in her shock. Bernice then heard her soulmate abruptly stop singing.

She gulped down the panic that was rising in her throat as she followed the hand on her wrist up to the face of the man who she thinks just realized he is Bernice’s soul mate. Once she was looking into Joseph Seed’s face she couldn’t stop from hyperventilating. Especially when he reached out to cup her cheek. “Shush my child.” He let go of Bernice’s wrist and ran the now free hand through her hair. “I told you God would not let you take me, and now he has revealed that you are my one true love. The other half to my soul.” Joseph placed his forehead against Bernice’s forehead. “Don’t worry my love I shall take care of you.”

Joseph pulled away from Bernice, although he still kept his hand wrapped in her hair. Then Joseph reached out and grabbed the headset, bringing it up to his mouth and talking to Nancy on the other end. When Bernice heard Nancy praise Joseph and call him the Father; Bernice instantly started to panic even further, breathing hard and fast and tugging at the belt holding her in the helicopter. All Bernice could think about was run, get away. She whimpered as the hand in her hair tightened to an almost painful grip; her head was pulled back to look at Joseph as he shushed her again. “It’s okay my love. You are safe here with me,” his hand left her hair and grabbed her wrists. Bernice then felt her own cuffs, the very ones that she had just put around his wrists not that long ago, lock around her own wrists. “We must keep you safe my love,” he told her gently as he climbed out of the wreck to meet the Peggies that had gathered outside of the chopper to praise Bernice’s deranged soulmate.

Despite the cuffs on her wrists, Bernice started to frantically tug at the belt around her waist. She heard the Marshal and Hudson come to and see the horrible situation they had managed to land themselves in. They both started to panic more than Bernice, which she thought was ironic considering the situation. Bernice has not been paying much attention to what her soulmate had been saying until he shouted, “BEGIN THE REAPING!” Her head then jerked in his direction to watch as the Peggies descended on the chopper and started yanking out Pratt and the Sheriff. Bernice’s attention was jerked toward Hudson as she fell to the top of the chopper after managing to release her safety belt. But Hudson was then pulled from the wreck by the Peggies, even as Bernice reached out to grab her ankle. With the cuffs on Bernice’s wrists, she just couldn’t hold on and watched as Hudson was dragged away.

Suddenly Bernice was shrinking back into her seat as a Peggie reached for her, but she thanked her lucky stars as the fire roared pushing the Peggie back.

“NO!” Bernice heard her soulmate roar. “You must save my other half…” Anything else he said was lost to Bernice as she hit the top of the helicopter, having finally managed to release the safety belt. Then Bernice bolted out of the wreck into the nearby woods. She heard a commotion behind her but ignored in favor of getting away. All Bernice could think about though was how far she would have to run to get away from her soulmate and could she, if she ran fast enough, run away from the very words written on her hip.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bernice tries to get away while dealing with the fact that one of her soulmates is a crazy cult leader. Also, the marshal is a jerk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woot another chapter and this one is fairly long! Thank you so much for all your kudos and kind comments. Those help keep me writing! Please forgive any spelling mistakes and grammar errors. I have no beta. Please enjoy!

Once Bernice got far enough away to feel semi-safe she sat down to try to plan her next move. Bernice wanted to have a break down with the knowledge of who exactly was her soulmate. A crazy cult leader who gouges out peoples eyes, what more could one want when getting a soul mate. Thinking about the crazy man again made her groan and bury her face in her hands. That action brought her attention to the cuffs around her wrists from where her own personal psycho had cuffed her with her own freaking cuffs. Bernice stood up and checked her pocket for the keys to the cuffs. She kicked at a nearby tree when her search came up empty. She would bet her right arm that the insane cult leader had the keys to the cuffs. With a sigh and a roll of her shoulders, the rookie deputy tried to push all thoughts of her insane soulmate away until a later date.

Bernice started to look around for anything that she could use to break the cuffs when she remembered she had a barrette in her hair. Thanking every deity ever worshiped that the psycho had cuffed her hands in front of her, Bernice reached up and pulled the barrette out of her thick hair with a bit of difficulty and a whole lot of cursing. Bernice then sat down and got to work breaking the clip apart so she had one smooth flat piece of metal. She then took that piece of metal and jammed it in between the spot where the serrated edge of the cuff went into the main part of the cuff. With a bit of wiggling, she finally got one hand free. Suddenly her radio flared to life making her jump out of her skin and almost drop the piece of her hair clip.

It was the Marshal asking for help. Bernice tilted her head, hair falling in her face, and thought about if she wanted to go help the man that landed her into this mess or not. She kept debating the issue as she freed her other hand from the cuffs. With a sigh, she decided to the bigger person. But first weapons. Right after that she finally got the cuff off her hand, she let out a whoop of excitement at having managed to free herself and chunked the cuffs away from herself. Unfortunately, she was not the only one to hear her whoop of joy. She heard some peggies call out not far away from where she was shitting. “Frack!” She cursed under her breath before hopping up and hurrying away as quietly as she could.

Bernice hurried towards a house in the distance, slowing down and moving into a crouch when she heard voices coming from the front of the house. As she moved around the left side of the house Bernice found a shotgun and some ammo. She loaded up with the weapon and grabbed a pipe too. She was not eager to draw the attention of the peggies in the woods again, so the shotgun would be a last resort. Weighing the pipe in her hand, Bernice came up behind one of the three peggies in front of the house and took him down with one solid whack across the back of the head.

She quickly checked the peggie’s pockets and was pleased to find a couple of grenades. Although that did lead her to question how on earth these crazy cultists got military grade explosives.  Bernice froze when she heard the peggies talking about her Soulmate. She crept closer so could hear what the peggies were saying. As she edged closer she found a set of throwing knives and smiled a rather sinister smile. Her smile quickly died however when she heard what the Peggies were talking about. She scowled as she heard one peggies say, “The Father has found his soulmate today. God has blessed the project with the safety of the Father and the blessing of him finding his soulmate.”

Bernice could only scowl at the fact that these Peggies already knew about her unfortunate connection with their leader. The whole cult most likely knew about her being the soulmate of the “father.” With an aggravated huff Bernice threw the two throwing knives with deadly accuracy to take down both of the peggies. Bernice grumbled quietly under her breath as she searched the peggies for more goodies that would help get her out of this situation. Only finding some more ammo and a couple of random packets of matches, which she decided to take too, just in case. Bernice then yanked the throwing knives out of the bodies, wiped the blood off on the clothes of the peggies, and kept jogging through the forest looking the trailer that the Marshal had described.

As Bernice moved farther and farther into the woods, she suddenly felt like someone was watching her. She stopped walking and listened into the woods. All she could hear right now was shouting of peggies looking for her and the marshal coming from all different directions. None of the voices were all that close though. In fact, most of them were so far away that she could barely make out what they were shouting to each other. Despite all this Bernice still had a very strong feeling that someone was watching her. Quickly scanning the dark as much as possible with such little light in the forest. Her eyes quickly found a hunting station in a nearby tree. Bernice quickly circled away from the hunting spot, making a good bit of noise. Once she felt she had gone far enough away from the platform, she quickly and silently doubled back to the same spot. Then Bernice climbed up onto the hunting platform and settled down facing the way she had gone. If someone was following her and lost her trail logic dictated they would double back. She pressed her back against the tree and kept her eyes peeled down on the ground barely daring to breathe.

Bernice held her position patiently and was eventually rewarded when a tall man with red hair stepped out of the cover of the trees. He had a sniper rifle in one hand and nighttime binoculars in the other hand. She watched him stop and glance around the area. When he turned his face in her direction for a moment, Bernice finally caught a glimpse of his face and it took everything in her not to gasp. She recognized him from the church. She was not sure who he was, but she knew that he must be big in the project. He had stayed standing behind Joseph as she arrested him after all the other Peggies had cleared out. He scanned the area a second time before unclipping a radio from his hip and speaking into the small device. “I lost her. I think she somehow caught on to me.” The man let out an aggravated grunt and leaned against a nearby tree not far from Bernice’s hiding spot.

There was nothing but static on the other end of the radio for a while. Then a very familiar voice to Bernice, even though she had only heard it once or twice in her lifetime so far, came across the airways. “Don’t fret brother, you tried your best. We have the forest she is in surrounded on all sides and the roads are blocked too. My soulmate will soon be by my side where she belongs.” After Joseph was done speaking, the red-haired man, apparently family to her psycho soulmate, shouldered his rifle and headed to the left of the original direction which Bernice had come from. Bernice watched him go holding her breath the whole time. Once she felt he was a safe distance away she counted to one hundred in her head. Once she was done counting she carefully stood up and tried to see if she could see any evidence of the trailer the marshal had mentioned when he had radioed her. She felt her shoulders sag in relief when she saw a trailer about two hundred paces in the opposite direction from where the red-headed man had just headed.

Bernice quickly and carefully climbed off the platform and then started to run as quietly as possible towards where she had seen the trailer. After a bit of running, she finally reached the bridge the marshal had mentioned in his radio call. Bernice was thankful to have not come across a single Peggie while she had been on the way to the trailer and it looked as though the trailer was unguarded. Still better safe than sorry. Bernice searched the ground near the bridge and found another pipe, seeing as how she had left the other pipe behind once she had found the throwing knives. Bernice quickly picked up and held the new pipe tightly in her right hand. She was very aware that she might just be walking into a trap and wanted to be as prepared as possible. Being as prepared as possible in this situation means having as many weapons as possible.

As Bernice crept up to the trailer she scouted out the area. Any ammo or weapons she found were quickly picked up and thankfully she had seen no Peggies so far. With a deep breath and a quick prayer that this was not a trap, Bernice threw open the door to the trailer. Bernice instantly knew that it was indeed a trap as someone grabbed her with a yell. She raised the pipe and was about to swipe at the person attacking her when she realized it was the marshal who had jumped her. She instantly relaxed in his hold and waited for the marshal to realize who she was. The minute he did he let go of her and then together they checked the trailer for peggies. She was relieved when there were none to be found.

Bernice then listened to the Marshal rant and rave about her soulmate and his family. Bernice was just thankful that he was not aware of the fact that the very man they had come to arrest was her soulmate. With the temper the Marshal was in, it would not have surprised Bernice, that if the marshal had known just who her soulmate was that he would have turned his anger onto her rather than the picture he threw on the counter of the trailer. Although he might just attempt to use her as a human shield to get him safely out of the county should he be made aware of the fact that she had a crazy cult leader as a soulmate. Although now that she thought about it, that idea did have merit.

Bernice was jolted out of her thoughts when the Marshal grabbed her shoulders and got in her personal space, why did no one seem to understand the meaning of a person’s personal bubble today, and talking about getting out of the county and going to Missoula. As he talked about getting out Bernice remembered what she had heard on the radio when her soulmate had been talking to the man in the forest who had been hunting her. “Wait, wait, wait, the cult has the roads blocked,” Bernice interrupted the Marshal. Then they both heard peggies outside saying to check the trailer.

The marshal and Bernice both let out a quiet curse before Bernice started army crawling towards the window opposite from the place she and the marshal had been crouched. Unfortunately, the marshal did not stay low and gave away their positions, much to Bernice chagrin. With the way, the Marshal was handling things you would think he was rookie on the case. Bernice quickly grabbed a sniper rifle from nearby, loaded it up, and started taking out peggies.

Things were going fine until the idiot marshal decided to climb OUT THE FREAKING WINDOW! Bernice let out a string of cuss words as she grabbed one of the grenades she had picked up earlier and chunked it at some oil cans. When the oil can went up in a fiery explosion she quickly hopped out the window herself and ran to cover the marshal as he tried to get a nearby Peggie truck started. Right as the truck started Bernice got clipped in the left shoulder with a bullet. She let out a pained grunt, shot the Peggie dead who had hit her and then climbed into the truck as the marshal started to pull away. He was not going to abandon her again to fight these crazies on her own if she could help it.

Bernice leaned out of the car shooting anything that moved until she ran out of ammo for the sniper rifle. When all she could hear was the clicking of an empty chamber after using the last clip, she chucked the riffle at a Peggie too, letting out a whoop when the flying gun actually took down one of the crazy cultists. Then Bernice spotted a case of dynamite in the back of the truck and remembered the matches she had grabbed. “Things are about to get fun!” She shouted at the Marshal as she lit up a stick of dynamite.

Leaning back out of the window Bernice waited for just the right moment to pitch it at the trucks following behind the truck she and marshal were riding in, her aim was true and it blew up two of the trucks following them. It was in that moment that she saw an airplane coming at them from a distance. “Jesus! Crap!” She shouted as she leaned back into the car. Bernice barley heard the Marshal’s comment on the cult having air support. For her part, Bernice was just trying to not panic. She could see her way out of the county shrinking fast. She was terrified of what would happen to her if the peggies got their hands on her. Would she become another mindless Peggie herself?

Bernice was jolted out of her dark thoughts when another truck rammed into the left side of the truck she was sitting in and gunfire from the airplane rained down onto the ground outside the right side of the truck. Bernice gave herself a little shake and started frantically lighting and chunking dynamite left and right. Even in her panic, her aim was true and peggies exploded left and right. The panic that was sitting in her throat started to recede slightly when it started to look like they might actually get out of the freaking county to get help. That was until the plane started to circle back around right as she and the marshal reached the final bridge out of the county. She heard the marshal start to curse faintly as all she could do was stare at the plane as it dropped a bomb on the bridge right in front of them.

So much for thinking my soulmate did not want me dead. Was one of the last thoughts she had, as she plunged into the river still locked inside the truck. Getting out of the truck and getting on to the shore was a blurry memory, except for where the marshal left her to fend for herself AGAIN. She had vague memorize of the marshal yelling in the distance and a man appearing above her. Then Bernice passed out ready for the sweet embrace of oblivion, even if it was only for a short while.


	4. Not Another One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bernice is working hard to help make up for what Joseph has done. But along the way she finds herself discovering another soulmate and more heartache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoy the new chapter! Thank you so much for your comments and kudos. They really help my muse grow and prosper.

 

      Bernice was moving through Holland Valley leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. After the failed escape attempt with the Marshal she had woken up in an old man’s bunker, been told of all the horrors her soulmate was responsible for, liberated Dutch’s island, and swam to the mainland to start righting some of the wrongs Joseph had caused. She had saved a family and their dog from the cult, liberated Fall’s End, taken out a few road blocks, blown up a couple of silo’s that had the cult’s symbol on them, liberated some prisoners, and saved a family at the Woodson pig farm. She was dirty, tired, and hurting from where a few bullets had hit her, but she was also feeling very satisfied. Her crazy soulmate might be responsible for a lot of death and destruction, but she was going to make up for everything he had done. She had two other soulmates to make proud of her after all…well at least one. Jury was still out on the whole “hunters coming for you” soulmate.

 

      She was overseeing the Resistance forces at the Woodson Pig farm until back up could get there and feeling a bit like the Resistance thought she was a one-woman arm, when her radio went off and John’s voice reached her over the wave lengths. “Sin is pervasive. It drives us to do unspeakable acts…” The rest of John’s words were just a dull roar in her ears as her second soul mark flared to life with a burst of pain. Bernice felt like she was falling off a cliff. Her last hope for a loving soulmate she saw shatter before her very eyes.

 

      “No! No, no, no, no, NO!” She shouted in frustration and tore at her hair. How could God or Fate or whatever had given her the cursed marks on her body do this to her. What had she done to warrant such a fate. She was pulled from her bind panic and anger by the sight of two Resistance vans pulling into the farm.

     She waved at the new Resistance members then darted off into the forest. Once she felt she was far enough away, Bernice collapsed to the ground and let the tears fall. That is where the hunting party John had sent after her found her. The rookie deputy heard them coming through the woods and picked up her machine gun. She pushed her agony to the side and let her wrath fill her whole body. She refused to go down without a fight and she refused to accept the fact that she was the soulmate to these two-terrible people. Bernice let out an inhuman cry and started to spray the cultists with bullets. She lost count of how many she took down before a bullet finally hit her shoulder and sent her into a sparkling fog and she no longer had control over her body.

 

       She heard the cultists taking over her prone body, “It is the Father’s soulmate.” “We must deliver her unto the water, the cleansing is tonight.” After that blissful blackness swallowed Bernice.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

      When she woke up from the blackness she was being held underwater by a bald cult fuck. Her movements were still slow and not very graceful due to whatever had been in that bullet that made her vison go sparkly and whatever was in the water that was amplifying the sparkles, but Bernice was a fighter and would be damned if she was going to just let these crazy people do whatever they wanted to her and the other people they had kidnapped. She lashed out at the man holding her down in the water, her knee landing a solid hit against his gut and when that caused him to stagger backwards she turned and elbowed him in the face.

 

     Before she could go at him again though, two other men from the cult had charged into the water and grabbed her arms. But rather than hit her like she was expecting they started to talk to her and try to reason with her.

 

      “Mother you must calm down. You are safe with us.” The surprise of the lack of violence against her made the rookie deputy sag in their hold. The cultists started to walk Bernice towards her newest soulmate at the water’s edge once she had gone limp in their hold. They kept talking as they walked her towards him.

 

     “Yes Mother, you just have to be cleansed and confess your sins, so you can join the Father by his side.” That was until the words they were speaking reached her ears. Bernice’s wrath grew when she heard them calling her mother. She refused to be a mother to these freaks. Her place was standing outside the bars of her soulmates prison cell, not standing by his side as killed, kidnapped, and tortured people.

 

      Bernice would have told them all that and more if she had not been standing in front of the sadist that had revealed herself to be her latest soulmate. She might have failed to hide the fact the she was Joseph’s soulmate, but she would be damned before she spoke a word to the man who was torturing Hudson and enjoying it.

 

     She was pulled from her musing when John spoke as he handed off the book in his hands to a man standing by his side. “Not this one. This one’s not clean yet.” Bernice frowned at the name for a second, then he was pouncing on her forcing her under the water again. Bernice thrashed in his hold as much as she could all the while cursing his man in her head. Her own soulmate was trying to torture her, lovely.

 

     When she was yanked out of the water it took everything in her not to speak the nasty words that were flying around her head. Instead she spit in his face. She watched with a smug satisfied smile as his own face contorted in rage, but before he could force her under the water again a new voice cut through the air.

 

     “Do you mock the cleaning John?” She glanced over the shoulder of the man holding her to see Joseph standing a few feet away watching the interaction between her and his brother.

 

     “No Joseph…” John started to say, but Joseph shushed him.

 

     “You have to love them John…don’t let your sin prevent that.” Bernice wanted to scoff at Joseph’s words. She wanted to ask him where he got the right talking about sin when he was murdering the people of Hope County left and right, but she held her tongue and made no sound.

 

      “Bring my soulmate to me.” Joseph instructed his followers and brother. Bernice felt herself being dragged towards the man who she had come to arrest, even though she fought against the pull of John and the other unnamed man on her left side. Despite her resistance the rookie deputy soon found herself in Joseph’s arms as he pressed his forehead against hers.

 

     Bernice squirmed in Joseph’s hold as he talked to her. “Despite all you have done you are not beyond salvation. You are not here by chance or by accident and you are meant to walk through the gates to Eden by my side. You have been given a gift. It remains to be seen if you choose to embrace it or cast it aside.”

 

     He finally pulled back from Bernice, though he kept one hand on her as he reached for his brother. The rookie deputy tuned out whatever the cult leader said to her latest soulmate. She was to distracted by watching other prisoners being forced into prisoner vans and other people who were not wearing cult garb happily hugging some of the cultists.

 

     Her attention was snapped back to John when he jerked her around to face him. “You _will_ confess. Every sin you’ve ever committed, no matter how petty, no matter how small. I will see you reach atonement for my brother’s sake.”

 

     John then dragged Bernice to one of the prisoner vans and pushed her inside with an armed guard get in the back as well. She figured the armed guard must be for her, because she had freed a couple of people from vans just like this and none of them had a guard in the back. Bernice frowned at the two-other people in the back of the van with her. The man reached for her and Bernice went to take his hands in hers, but before she could the guard cocked his gun and pointed it at the man sitting next to her. Bernice instantly let go of the man not wanting to be responsible for his death.

 

     Once Bernice let go, the cultist put down his gun and spoke to her, “You must not touch the sinners mother. You are to pure for that and they will only corrupt you against the Father farther.” The guard explained to Bernice when she continued to watch him, still slightly afraid he would still attack the innocent man sitting beside her. At his words Bernice drew back her lips in a snarl.

 

     But before she could say anything against what peggie had said, the other woman let out a snarl and jeered, “Fucking peggie.” The peggie let out a grown and hit the other woman with the butt of his gun. Bernice cried out and went to help the woman before the peggie grabbed her arms and forced to rookie deputy to sit back down.

 

     “No mother, she disrespects us. She must learn to treat the project with more respect…” Before he could say anything else the van was flying through the air and they were all getting tossed around the back of the van along with pages from the book of Joseph, bliss flowers, and ammo. Bernice made herself go limp as she was thrown around and was lucky enough to stay awake while the other two prisoners and her guard were knocked out.

 

      Bernice crawled her way over to the door of the van and started banging on the doors with her tied hands when she heard a groan come from behind. She turned to see the peggie waking up and reaching for his gun. Before he could grab it the doors to the van were yanked open and a bullet pierced the peggies skull. Bernice turned to find Pastor Jerome standing next to the van placing a gun into his bible. She smiled at the Pastor and held out her hands for him to cut her free. Two other Resistance fighters ran over, one with her favorite gun. She was handed her gun once her hands were free and then the Resistance members started to help the other two people who had been kidnapped with Bernice out of the car.

 

     With a smirk at Pastor Jerome and a quick thank you, the rookie deputy started to unleash her fury on the fucking peggies that thought they could tame her wild spirit. No one with the Project at Eden’s Gate would be left alive tonight.

 

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     As soon as the fight was over, with everyone from the Resistance surviving, Bernice hurried out of John’s region as fast as she could. She felt bad for leaving the people of Fall’s End, but she needed some distance from her newest soulmate. She would go help the people at the jail and liberate some outposts and them she would be back.

 

      At least that is what the deputy told herself. The more time she spent in the Henbane though, the more determined she was to take out Faith and get rid of all the Bliss. The rookie deputy hated how the Bliss messed with her mind and made her see things. The deputy made her way quickly through the region. She made some great friends who helped her fight the good fight. There was especially Sharky Bowshaw, who she enjoyed setting things on fire with, and Adelaide Drubman, who was always happy to provide a getaway ride after the deputy had blown up something and pissed off a bunch of the cultists. It was also good to be back with the Sheriff again.

 

      The deputy had found herself telling the Sheriff all about the fact that two of the Seed brothers were her soulmates and he had been very understanding. The older man told Bernice a story about his own soulmate. A young woman who was a drug addict and later a murder. It was that very soulmate who convinced the man that Bernice considered almost like a dad to decide to become a law enforcer. He understood that a person was not their soulmate. The rookie deputy now felt that she and Whitehorse shared an even deeper bond. They made sure to talk daily.

 

      The rookie deputy had also caved and gone to Dutch’s bunker to talk to him and come clean about her soulmates. She hated the thought of all the Resistance depending on her and thinking she was some great person when she had such horrible people for soulmates. While Dutch’s soulmate had not been a bad person like Whitehorse’s had, the old prepper still gave a pep talk to the rookie deputy. He made sure Bernice understood that she was not the Seeds and everything they had done did not rest on her head. Even if some of the people wanted to blame the rookie deputy, she was showing through her actions that she was against the people who ran the cult Project at Eden’s gate and their actions. Bernice instantly felt a bit of the weight on her shoulders lift. With Dutch and Whitehorse in her camp she felt like there was nothing this cult could throw at her that she couldn’t handle.

 

     The rookie deputy also helped out a bunch of people and destroyed a lot of cult property. Bernice loved destroying the shrines full of bliss that the cult had thrown up all over the region. However, the deputy’s favorite thing that she had done in the region was destroying the God-awful statue and burning the word of Joseph that was kept in the hunk of cement. She felt like it was her giving the metaphorical finger to her soulmate that was responsible for so much death.

 

       The deputy was taking down another outpost, this time it was the Whistling Beaver Brewery. She had already liberated the Marina, the Jessop Conservator, and truck stop. But right after she snipped the last cultist in the brewery when she found herself being pulled into “the Bliss”. She figured one of the cultists had snuck up on her and dosed her. But while she was in “the Bliss” she saw the cult taking back the jail and taking Whitehorse.

 

      Bernice instantly got mad. No! No one could take Whitehorse. He was the only one besides Dutch who really understood the rookie deputy. Her wrath fueling her, the rookie deputy flew towards the jail her aim true and deadly. It only took the rookie deputy a few minutes to clear out the jail and be back out the door going after Faith. The fight with Faith was hard and exhausting. So was getting the Sherriff out of the bunker and exploding the bunker. But the rookie deputy had never felt lighter. The fight was finally over, and this region of Hope County was free from most of the cult’s control at last.

 

      Bernice hugged the Sherriff in relief before taking the man over to a nearby abandoned truck. The rookie deputy and the Sherriff drove back to the jail together in silence, until the deputy’s radio crackled to life and the sound of Joseph Seed’s quiet, yet strong voice filled the cabin of the truck. “I know you think you have won today my love. But, there can always be another Faith. She is just a vessel for my message. There is only one you however and you will walk into Eden at my side. If not by choice, then by force.”

 

      Bernice looked over at the Sherriff with fear and worry covering her like a heavy oppressive fog. Whitehorse reached out and grabbed the rookie deputy’s shoulder closest to him. “Don’t worry Rook. We won’t let him take you.”

 

      Bernice wanted to believe the Sherriff. Yet, she had the sinking suspicion that soon Joseph would have her in his clutches and he would not be letting her go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to follow me on tumblr @littlecuddler for lots of Far Cry stuff and a more in depth look at my OC's!


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